KE Holdings Inc. [BEKE] Filings

20-F 1 beke-20201231x20f.htm FORM 20-F

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 20-F

(Mark One)

☐	REGISTRATION STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OR 12(g) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

☒	ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020.

☐	TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

☐	SHELL COMPANY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Date of event requiring this shell company report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

For the transition period from to

Commission file number: 001-39436

KE Holdings Inc.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

N/A

(Translation of Registrant’s name into English)

Cayman Islands

(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

Oriental Electronic Technology Building,

No. 2 Chuangye Road, Haidian District,

Beijing 100086

People’s Republic of China

+86 10 5810 4689

(Address of principal executive offices)

XU Tao, Chief Financial Officer

Telephone: +86 10 5810 4689

Email: ir@ke.com

Oriental Electronic Technology Building,

No. 2 Chuangye Road, Haidian District,

Beijing 100086

People’s Republic of China

(Name, Telephone, Email and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:



Title of each class	Trading Symbol(s)	Name of each exchange on which registered
American depositary shares (one American depositary share representing three class A ordinary shares, par value US$0.00002 per share)	BEKE	New York Stock Exchange
Class A ordinary shares, par value US$0.00002 per share*		New York Stock Exchange

*	Not for trading, but only in connection with the listing on the New York Stock Exchange, or the NYSE, of American depositary shares.

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

(Title of Class)

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Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act:

None

(Title of Class)

Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report.

As of December 31, 2020, there were 3,552,268,135 ordinary shares outstanding, being the sum of 2,666,966,855 class A ordinary shares and 885,301,280 class B ordinary shares, par value US$0.00002 per share.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. ◻ Yes ⌧ No

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. ◻ Yes ⌧ No

Note – Checking the box above will not relieve any registrant required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 from their obligations under those Sections.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. ⌧ Yes ◻ No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). ⌧ Yes ☐ No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.


Large accelerated filer ◻	Accelerated filer ◻	Non-accelerated filer ⌧	Emerging growth company ☐

If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards† provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ◻Yes ◻ No

† The term “new or revised financial accounting standard” refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ◻ Yes ⌧ No

Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

U.S. GAAP ⌧

International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board ◻

Other ◻

If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow. ◻ Item 17 ◻ Item 18

If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). ☐ Yes ⌧ No

(APPLICABLE ONLY TO ISSUERS INVOLVED IN BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS DURING THE PAST FIVE YEARS)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed all documents and reports required to be filed by Sections 12, 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 subsequent to the distribution of securities under a plan confirmed by a court. ◻ Yes ◻ No

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TABLE OF CONTENTS


		Page

INTRODUCTION		1

FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION		3

PART I		4
Item 1.	Identity of Directors, Senior Management and Advisers	4
Item 2.	Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable	4
Item 3.	Key Information	4
Item 4.	Information on the Company	53
Item 4A.	Unresolved Staff Comments	89
Item 5.	Operating and Financial Review and Prospects	89
Item 6.	Directors, Senior Management and Employees	120
Item 7.	Major Shareholders and Related Party Transactions	133
Item 8.	Financial Information	136
Item 9.	The Offer and Listing	138
Item 10.	Additional Information	138
Item 11.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk	154
Item 12.	Description of Securities Other than Equity Securities	155
PART II		157
Item 13.	Defaults, Dividend Arrearages and Delinquencies	157
Item 14.	Material Modifications to the Rights of Security Holders and Use of Proceeds	157
Item 15.	Controls and Procedures	158
Item 16A.	Audit Committee Financial Expert	159
Item 16B.	Code of Ethics	159
Item 16C.	Principal Accountant Fees and Services	160
Item 16D.	Exemptions from the Listing Standards for Audit Committees	160
Item 16E.	Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers	160
Item 16F.	Change in Registrant’s Certifying Accountant	160
Item 16G.	Corporate Governance	160
Item 16H.	Mine Safety Disclosure	161
PART III		161
Item 17.	Financial Statements	161
Item 18.	Financial Statements	161
Item 19.	Exhibits	161
SIGNATURES

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INTRODUCTION

Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, references in this annual report to:

“ADRs” are to the American depositary receipts that may evidence the ADSs;

“ADSs” are to the American depositary shares, each of which represents three class A ordinary shares;

“BVI” are to the British Virgin Islands;

“Beike,” “we,” “us,” “our company” and “our” are to KE Holdings Inc., our Cayman Islands holding company and its subsidiaries, its consolidated variable interest entities and the subsidiaries of the consolidated variable interest entities;

“China” or the “PRC” are to the People’s Republic of China, excluding, for the purposes of this annual report only, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan;

“class A ordinary shares” are to our class A ordinary shares, par value US$0.00002 per share;

“class B ordinary shares” are to our class B ordinary shares, par value US$0.00002 per share;

“GTV” of our platform, for a given period, are to gross transaction value, which is calculated as the total value of all transactions we facilitated on our platform and evidenced by signed contracts as of the end of the period, including the value of the existing home transactions, new home transactions and emerging and other services, and including transactions that are contracted but pending closing at the end of period.

“mobile monthly active users” or “mobile MAU” are to the sum of (i) the number of accounts that have accessed our platform through our Beike or Lianjia mobile app (with duplication eliminated) at least once during a month, and (ii) the number of Weixin users that have accessed our platform through our Weixin mini programs at least once during a month. The number of our mobile MAU is calculated using internal company data that have not been independently verified, and we treat each mobile app account and Weixin user account as a separate user for the purpose of calculating mobile MAU, although some individuals may use more than one accounts, may share the same account with other individuals, and/or may use both our mobile apps and Weixin mini programs to access our platform. Average mobile MAU is calculated as the arithmetic average of the mobile MAU during the applicable period;

“ordinary shares” are to our class A and class B ordinary shares, par value US$0.00002 per share;

“our VIEs” are to Beijing Lianjia Real Estate Brokerage Co., Ltd., Tianjin Xiaowu Information & Technology Co., Ltd., and Beijing Yiju Taihe Technology Co., Ltd.;

“our WFOEs” are to Beike Jinke (Tianjin) Technology Co., Ltd., Beike (Tianjin) Investment Co., Ltd., Beike (China) Investment Holdings Limited and Jinbei (Tianjin) Technology Co., Ltd.;

“RMB” and “Renminbi” are to the legal currency of China;

“SaaS” are to software-as-a-services;

“Tencent” are to Tencent Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries; and

“US$,” “U.S. dollars,” “$,” and “dollars” are to the legal currency of the United States.

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When we calculate agents on our platform, we refer to agents who are affiliated with the real estate brokerage stores and subject to our Agent Cooperation Network, or ACN, rules.

In China, real estate brokerage refers to the activities of providing intermediary or agency services in connection with housing transactions by brokerage firms and agents, wherein brokerage firms and agents are allowed to collect commissions from either or both of buy side and sell side as long as the payment arrangement is prescribed in the brokerage service agreements.

Unless otherwise noted, all translations from Renminbi to U.S. dollars and from U.S. dollars to Renminbi in this annual report are made at a rate of RMB6.5250 to US$1.00, the exchange rate in effect as of December 31, 2020 as set forth in the H.10 statistical release of The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. We make no representation that any Renminbi or U.S. dollar amounts could have been, or could be, converted into U.S. dollars or Renminbi, as the case may be, at any particular rate, or at all.

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FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This annual report contains forward-looking statements that reflect our current expectations and views of future events. The forward-looking statements are contained principally in the sections entitled “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors,” “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview” and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects.” Known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including those listed under “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors,” may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

You can identify some of these forward-looking statements by words or phrases such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “aim,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “is/are likely to,” “potential,” “continue” or other similar expressions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. These forward-looking statements include statements relating to:

our goals and strategies;

our future business development, financial condition and results of operations;

expected changes in our revenues, costs or expenditures;

our ability to empower services and facilitate transactions on our platform;

competition in our industry;

relevant government policies and regulations relating to our industry;

our ability to protect our systems and infrastructures from cyber-attacks;

our dependence on the integrity of brokerage brands, stores and agents on our platform;

general economic and business conditions in China and globally; and

assumptions underlying or related to any of the foregoing.

These forward-looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties. Although we believe that our expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, our expectations and our actual results could be materially different from our expectations. Important risks and factors that could cause our actual results to be materially different from our expectations are generally set forth in “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors,” “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview” and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” and other sections in this annual report. Moreover, we operate in an evolving environment. New risk factors and uncertainties emerge from time to time and it is not possible for our management to predict all risk factors and uncertainties, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. You should read thoroughly this annual report and the documents that we refer to with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from and worse than what we expect. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements.

The forward-looking statements made in this annual report relate only to events or information as of the date on which the statements are made in this annual report. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. You should read this annual report and the documents that we refer to in this annual report and have filed as exhibits to this annual report, of which this annual report is a part, completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect.

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PART I

Item 1. Identity of Directors, Senior Management and Advisers

Not applicable.

Item 2. Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable

Not applicable.

Item 3. Key Information

A.	Selected Financial Data

The following selected consolidated statements of operations for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020, selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2019 and 2020, and selected consolidated cash flow data for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this annual report beginning on page F-1. The selected consolidated statements of operations for the year ended December 31, 2017, selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2017 and 2018, and selected consolidated cash flow data for the year ended December 31, 2017 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements not included in this annual report. Our consolidated financial statements are prepared and presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or U.S. GAAP. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of results expected for future periods. You should read this “Selected Financial Data” section together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” included elsewhere in this annual report.



	For the Year Ended December 31,
	2017	2018	2019	2020
	RMB	RMB	RMB	RMB	US$

	(in thousands, except for share and per share data)
Net revenues:
Existing home transaction services	18,461,231	20,154,642	24,568,508	30,564,584	4,684,227
New home transaction services	6,419,251	7,471,924	20,273,860	37,937,886	5,814,235
Emerging and other services	625,216	1,019,933	1,172,538	1,978,508	303,220
Total net revenues	25,505,698	28,646,499	46,014,906	70,480,978	10,801,682
Cost of revenues⁽¹⁾:
Commission — split	(933,162)	(1,393,167)	(11,154,698)	(24,847,023)	(3,807,972)
Commission and compensation — internal	(15,663,301)	(15,767,582)	(19,444,127)	(23,324,145)	(3,574,582)
Cost related to stores	(3,543,781)	(3,400,545)	(3,078,672)	(3,206,601)	(491,433)
Others	(597,397)	(1,215,229)	(1,069,365)	(2,243,352)	(343,809)
Gross profit	4,768,057	6,869,976	11,268,044	16,859,857	2,583,886
Sales and marketing expenses⁽¹⁾	(998,575)	(2,489,692)	(3,105,899)	(3,715,278)	(569,391)
General and administrative expenses⁽¹⁾	(4,281,571)	(4,927,367)	(8,376,531)	(7,588,809)	(1,163,037)
Research and development expenses⁽¹⁾	(251,802)	(670,922)	(1,571,154)	(2,477,911)	(379,756)
Others	625,553	718,940	509,776	1,309,260	200,653
Income (loss) before income tax benefit (expense)	(138,338)	(499,065)	(1,275,764)	4,387,119	672,355
Income tax benefit (expense)	(399,283)	71,384	(904,363)	(1,608,796)	(246,558)
Net income (loss)	(537,621)	(427,681)	(2,180,127)	2,778,323	425,797
Weighted average number of ordinary shares used in computing net income (loss) per share, basic and diluted
—Basic	1,345,194,322	1,362,565,880	1,378,235,522	2,226,264,859	2,226,264,859
—Diluted	1,345,194,322	1,362,565,880	1,378,235,522	2,267,330,891	2,267,330,891
Net income (loss) per share attributable to ordinary shareholders
— Basic	(1.07)	(1.75)	(2.94)	0.32	0.05
— Diluted	(1.07)	(1.75)	(2.94)	0.32	0.05

Note:

(1)	Share-based compensation expenses were allocated as follows:

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	For the Year Ended December 31,
	2017	2018	2019	2020
	RMB	RMB	RMB	RMB	US$

	(in thousands)
Cost of revenues	—	—	—	511,637	78,412
Sales and marketing expenses	—	—	—	77,574	11,889
General and administrative expenses	475,783	382,196	2,955,590	1,131,335	173,385
Research and development expenses	—	—	—	532,043	81,539
Total	475,783	382,196	2,955,590	2,252,589	345,225

The following table presents our selected consolidated balance sheet data as of the dates indicated:


	As of December 31,
	2017	2018	2019	2020
	RMB	RMB	RMB	RMB	US$

	(in thousands)
Selected consolidated Balance Sheet Data
Cash and cash equivalents	5,236,100	9,115,649	24,319,332	40,969,979	6,278,924
Total current assets	24,067,931	27,374,784	51,912,486	87,539,101	13,415,954
Total non-current assets	7,512,004	11,491,480	15,352,826	16,756,435	2,568,036
Total assets	31,579,935	38,866,264	67,265,312	104,295,536	15,983,990
Total current liabilities	16,047,286	20,572,881	27,797,675	33,633,346	5,154,536
Total non-current liabilities	3,095,864	3,434,843	7,932,045	3,869,674	593,053
Total liabilities	19,143,150	24,007,724	35,729,720	37,503,020	5,747,589

The following table presents our selected consolidated cash flow data for the periods indicated:


	For the Year Ended December 31,
	2017	2018	2019	2020
	RMB	RMB	RMB	RMB	US$

	(in thousands)
Selected Consolidated Cash Flow Data
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities	(6,456,226)	3,216,797	112,626	9,361,949	1,434,781
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities	(2,783,562)	2,609,149	(3,873,722)	(14,977,618)	(2,295,420)
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities	9,576,284	(1,282,408)	23,026,396	25,406,250	3,893,678
Effect of exchange rate change on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash	(330)	416	(94,922)	(2,183,682)	(334,664)
Net increase in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash	336,166	4,543,954	19,170,378	17,606,899	2,698,375
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at the beginning of the period	7,880,078	8,216,244	12,760,198	31,930,576	4,893,575
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at the end of the period	8,216,244	12,760,198	31,930,576	49,537,475	7,591,950

Contribution Margin and Non-GAAP Metrics

We also review contribution margin to measure segment profitability and adjusted net income (loss) and adjusted EBITDA, two non-GAAP measures, to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate business plans and make strategic decisions.

Contribution margin

The table below sets forth the contribution margin for each of our business lines for the periods indicated.


	For the Year Ended December 31,
	2017		2018		2019		2020
	RMB		RMB		RMB		RMB		US$

	(in thousands, except for percentages)
Contribution (existing home transaction services)	5,635,332		7,731,846		9,554,244		12,499,133		1,915,576
Contribution margin (existing home transaction services)	30.5	%	38.4	%	38.9	%	40.9	%	40.9	%
Contribution (new home transaction services)	2,866,263		3,027,822		4,918,700		8,149,925		1,249,030
Contribution margin (new home transaction services)	44.7	%	40.5	%	24.3	%	21.5	%	21.5	%
Contribution (emerging and other services)	407,640		726,082		943,137		1,660,752		254,522
Contribution margin (emerging and other services)	65.2	%	71.2	%	80.4	%	83.9	%	83.9	%

We define contribution for each service line as the revenue less the direct compensation to our internal agents and sales professionals, and split commission to connected agents and other sales channels for such services. We define contribution margin as a percentage of contribution bearing to revenue.

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The following table presents the calculation to arrive at contribution from net revenues, for each of the periods indicated:


	For the Year Ended December 31,
	2017	2018	2019	2020
	RMB	RMB	RMB	RMB	US$

	(in thousands)
Existing home transaction services
Net revenues	18,461,231	20,154,642	24,568,508	30,564,584	4,684,227
Less: Commission and compensation	(12,825,899)	(12,422,796)	(15,014,264)	(18,065,451)	(2,768,651)
Contribution	5,635,332	7,731,846	9,554,244	12,499,133	1,915,576
New home transaction services
Net revenues	6,419,251	7,471,924	20,273,860	37,937,886	5,814,235
Less: Commission and compensation	(3,552,988)	(4,444,102)	(15,355,160)	(29,787,961)	(4,565,205)
Contribution	2,866,263	3,027,822	4,918,700	8,149,925	1,249,030
Emerging and other services
Net revenues	625,216	1,019,933	1,172,538	1,978,508	303,220
Less: Commission and compensation	(217,576)	(293,851)	(229,401)	(317,756)	(48,698)
Contribution	407,640	726,082	943,137	1,660,752	254,522

Contribution margin demonstrates the margin that we generate after costs directly attributable to the respective revenue streams, including existing home transaction services, new home transaction services, and emerging and other services. The costs and expenses related to the platform infrastructure built-up and enhancement, including cost related to our Lianjia stores and the development cost of our technological platform, which are not directly attributable to the respective revenue streams, are not deducted from revenue when calculating contribution.

Adjusted net income (loss) and adjusted EBITDA

In addition to net income (loss), we use adjusted net income (loss) and adjusted EBITDA to evaluate our business. We have included these non-GAAP financial measures because they are key measures used by our management to evaluate our operating performance. Accordingly, we believe that they provide useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results in the same manner as our management team and board of directors. Our calculation of these non-GAAP financial measures may differ from similarly-titled non-GAAP measures, if any, reported by our peer companies. They should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, financial information prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

We define adjusted net income (loss) as net income (loss), excluding (i) share-based compensation expenses, (ii) amortization of intangible assets resulting from acquisitions and business cooperation agreement, (iii) changes in fair value from long term investments, loan receivables measured at fair value and contingent consideration, (iv) impairment of goodwill and intangible assets, (v) impairment of investments, and (vi) the tax effects on the above adjustments. We expand our business through acquisitions along the value chain of housing transactions, including the acquisition of Nanchang Zhonghuan Hulian Information Co., Ltd., or Zhonghuan, in 2019, a regional real estate brokerage firm. We also entered into a business cooperation agreement with Tencent in 2018, which grants us the access to its advertising resources and allows us to use Tencent's cloud services. Amortization of intangible assets arising from these acquisitions and the business cooperation agreement with Tencent is excluded as item (ii) above when adjusted net income (loss) is calculated.

We define adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss), excluding (i) interest income, net, (ii) income tax expenses (benefit), (iii) depreciation of property and equipment, (iv) amortization of intangible assets, (v) share-based compensation expenses, (vi) changes in fair value from long term investments, loan receivables measured at fair value and contingent consideration, (vii) impairment of goodwill and intangible assets, and (viii) impairment of investments.

Investors should note that some adjustment expenses are related to assets that contribute to revenue generation.

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The following table presents a reconciliation of net income (loss) to adjusted net income and adjusted EBITDA for each of the periods indicated:


	For the Year Ended December 31,
	2017	2018	2019	2020
	RMB	RMB	RMB	RMB	US$

	(in thousands)
Net income (loss)	(537,621)	(427,681)	(2,180,127)	2,778,323	425,797
Add (less):
Share-based compensation expenses	475,783	382,196	2,955,590	2,252,589	345,225
Amortization of intangible assets resulting from acquisitions and business cooperation agreement	133,481	127,825	450,413	604,806	92,691
Changes in fair value from long term investments, loan receivables measured at fair value and contingent consideration	4,015	52,801	428,422	(175,115)	(26,838)
Impairment of goodwill and intangible assets	—	—	—	236,050	36,176
Impairment of investments	—	—	—	26,650	4,084
Tax effects on non-GAAP adjustments⁽¹⁾	(5,003)	(4,339)	1,705	(3,599)	(552)
Adjusted net income	70,655	130,802	1,656,003	5,719,704	876,583
Net income (loss)	(537,621)	(427,681)	(2,180,127)	2,778,323	425,797
Add (less):
Interest income, net	(81,171)	(121,374)	(230,339)	(163,600)	(25,073)
Income tax expenses (benefit)	399,283	(71,384)	904,363	1,608,796	246,558
Depreciation of property and equipment	674,202	653,376	561,995	552,798	84,720
Amortization of intangible assets	137,001	138,918	477,323	621,174	95,199
Share-based compensation expenses	475,783	382,196	2,955,590	2,252,589	345,225
Changes in fair value from long term investments, loan receivables measured at fair value and contingent consideration	4,015	52,801	428,422	(175,115)	(26,838)
Impairment of goodwill and intangible assets	—	—	—	236,050	36,176
Impairment of investments	—	—	—	26,650	4,084
Adjusted EBITDA	1,071,492	606,852	2,917,227	7,737,665	1,185,848

Note:

(1) Tax effects on non-GAAP adjustments primarily consist of tax effects relating to the amortization of intangible assets resulting from acquisitions.

B. Capitalization and Indebtedness

Not applicable.

C. Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds

Not applicable.

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D. Risk Factors

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

Our business is susceptible to fluctuations in China’s residential real estate market and is subject to government regulations.

Our business depends substantially on the general market conditions of China’s residential real estate market, where we primarily conduct our business. The demand for residential real estate in China has grown steadily in recent years, but such growth is often coupled with volatility and fluctuations in housing transaction volume and prices. Fluctuations of China’s residential real estate market are caused by economic, social, political and other factors outside our control. Any prolonged slowdown in China’s economy, which leads to a decline or fluctuation in the residential real estate market, may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, there may be situations where China’s residential real estate industry becomes over-heated, and our platform becomes less appealing to housing customers, brokerage brands, stores and agents and other business partners, which could potentially adversely affect our business of facilitating housing transactions.

The residential real estate industry in China is also subject to government regulations on existing and new home transactions. The PRC government has in recent years announced a series of measures aimed to stabilize the growth of the PRC economy and specific sectors, including the real estate market, to a more sustainable level. The moves were made in line with the central government’s principle that “housing is for living in, not for speculation.” Since the second half of 2016, many municipal governments have issued market control policies, including restoring or strengthening the restriction on purchases of residential properties and tightening credit policy. In particular, central and local government authorities introduced the policies to specifically stabilize the residential real estate market, including limiting the maximum amount of monthly mortgages and the maximum amount of total monthly debt service payments of an individual borrower; imposing a value-added tax on the sales proceeds for second-hand transfers subject to the length of holding period and type of properties; increasing the minimum amount and percentage of down payment of the purchase price of the residential property of a family; tightening the availability of individual housing loans in the residential real estate market to individuals and their family members with more than one residential properties; imposing a 20.0% individual income tax on the gain from the sale of second-hand properties; limiting the availability of individual housing provident fund loans for the purchase of second (or more) residential properties by employees and their family members; mandating the banks to contain their balance of all real estate loans and balance of all individual housing loans under a certain capped percentage of the total balance of all Renminbi loans provided by the bank; and publishing reference sale prices for existing home transactions at different regions in a city. For instance, on February 8, 2021, the housing authorities in Shenzhen issued a circular and a list of reference prices on existing home transactions, which established a mechanism of reference sale prices for existing home transactions in Shenzhen and specify a tailored reference price for each of the nearly 3,600 residential communities in the city. As a result of this new policy, the transaction volume of existing homes in Shenzhen has dropped significantly. We cannot assure you whether this policy in Shenzhen will be eased or reversed, nor can we assure you whether similar policies will be adopted in other cities. If the policy is expanded to other cities, our business and results of operations in these cities, in particular to the business of existing home transactions, may be materially and adversely affected.

While the PRC government adopted or adjusted certain measures from time to time with an aim to support healthy development of the residential real estate market in certain regions in China, the measures as mentioned above and other future measures may continue to affect the growth rate of the residential real estate market, some of which may dissuade potential purchasers from making purchases, cause a decline in transaction volumes and average selling prices, prevent developers from raising the capital they need, increase developers’ costs to start new projects, and change the sales and marketing strategy of developers in a way that reduces their demand for our platform services. We cannot assure you that the PRC government will not adopt additional and more stringent industry policies, regulations and measures in the future, nor can we assure you when or whether the existing policies and regulations will be eased or reversed, or otherwise enhanced to some extent in their implementations. Changes in government policies may also create uncertainty that could discourage investment in real estate. If these changes in government policies result in decreasing transaction volumes in the residential real estate market in China, our business and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

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If we are unable to continue to provide satisfactory experience to housing customers, our business and reputation may be materially and adversely affected.

The success of our business substantially hinges on our ability to provide quality customer experience, which in turn depends on a variety of factors, including our ability to continue to offer integrated online and offline access to an extensive and authentic property listing database and to, together with the brokerage brands, stores and agents on our platform, provide convenient and secure housing service experience and satisfactory services to our housing customers.

Interruptions or failures in the proper functioning of our platform hamper our delivery of satisfactory customer experience. These interruptions may be due to unforeseen events that are beyond our control or the control of the participants on our platform such as intensified competition due to market entry of new players with financial and other resources stronger than us, additional regulatory requirements which we cannot satisfy on a timely basis, or at all, or adverse development or negative publicity involving our platform participants. Moreover, although we endeavor to implement various service protocols and train the real estate agents and other related service providers on our platform to ensure service quality, we cannot guarantee that we will effectively manage all the agents and other service providers to ensure satisfactory customer experience in all service settings. We have in the past received customer complaints from time to time. If we are unable to continue to provide satisfactory customer experience, housing customers may choose other service providers over our platform for their intended housing transactions, which could adversely and materially impact our reputation, business and results of operations.

We may not succeed in continuing to maintain, protect and strengthen our brands, and any negative publicity about us, our business, our management, our business partners or the real estate market in general, may materially and adversely affect our reputation, business, results of operations and growth.

We believe that the recognition and reputation of our brands among real estate agents, customers, real estate developers and the industry in general have significantly contributed to the success of our business. Continuing to maintain, protect and strengthen our brands is critical to our market position. Maintaining and strengthening our brands will likely depend significantly on our ability to provide high-quality housing transaction services on our platform. We market our brands through efforts such as word-of-mouth marketing, sponsoring events, advertising and marketing through a variety of media. These efforts may not always achieve the desired results. If we fail to maintain a strong brand, our business, results of operations and prospects will be materially and adversely affected.

Our reputation and brands may be impacted by various factors, some of which are difficult or impossible to predict, control and costly or impossible to remediate. Negative publicity about us, such as alleged misconduct by our employees or other business partners on our platform, inauthentic property listings on our platform, unethical business practices, or rumors relating to our business, management, employees, real estate agents on our platform, our shareholders and affiliates, our business partners or our competitors and peers can harm our reputation, business and results of operations. These allegations, even if factually incorrect or based on isolated incidents, may lead to inquiries, regulatory investigations or legal actions against us. Such actions could substantially damage our reputation and cause us to incur significant costs to defend ourselves. Any negative public perception or publicity regarding our business partners that we cooperate with, or any regulatory inquiries or investigations and lawsuits initiated against them, may also have an adverse impact on our brand and reputation. Moreover, any negative media publicity about the housing transactions and services industry or service quality problems of other players in our industry, including our competitors, or even negative sentiments against China-based listed companies as a group due to fraud or misbehavior of certain bad actors, may also negatively impact our reputation and undermine the trust and credibility. If we fail to maintain positive reputation, our ability to attract and retain housing customers, real estate agents, business partners and key employees could be harmed.

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If our platform is unable to continue to offer comprehensive authentic property listings, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We believe that our authentic property listings inventory is critical for us to gain trust from our housing customers, improve agent operating efficiency and maintain our competitive advantages. We have an obligation under PRC laws to review, monitor and verify the content of the listing information to ensure it is not fraudulent or misleading and is in compliance with applicable laws. We are not allowed to list certain property information for various reasons, including intellectual property infringement, non-compliance with real estate regulations and policies and non-compliance with advertising laws and competition laws, and we are legally required to delete such listing information that is reported by our customers as illegal or may constitute an infringement to others. Although we thrive to maintain the authenticity and accuracy of our property listings by enforcing strict authentic listing rules, constantly monitoring and checking the authenticity of property listings, timely updating or deleting unqualified listings and awarding customers for accurate reporting of incorrect information, we cannot assure you that all the real estate properties listed on our platform are authentic, accurate, up-to-date and not misleading at all times. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Agent Cooperation Network (ACN)—Authentic Property Listings.” To the extent we fail to monitor and maintain the quality and authenticity of the listings in our property listing database, and the authenticity and accuracy of our property listings deteriorate, our platform could be less attractive to both housing customers and real estate agents and our transaction volume may decrease. We may also be subject to regulatory investigations or penalties if the issues raise regulatory concerns. A public perception that inauthentic property information is displayed on our platform, even if factually incorrect or based on a few isolated incidents, could damage our reputation, diminish the value of our brand and negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have a limited operating history under our platform business model, and our historical growth and performance may not be indicative of our future growth and financial results.

Although we have a long and successful operating track record in operating Lianjia, we have a limited history for operating Beike platform launched in 2018. Although we have experienced a relatively high growth in operating Beike platform, and our GTV grew from RMB1,153 billion in 2018 to RMB2,128 billion in 2019, and further to RMB3,499 billion (US$536 billion) in 2020, we may fail to continue our growth or maintain our historical growth rates. You should not consider our historical growth and profitability as indicative of our future financial performance. You should consider our future operations in light of the challenges and uncertainties that we may encounter, which include our ability to, among other things:

develop our infrastructure to enhance service efficiency and customer experience;

attract real estate brokerage brands and their affiliated stores and agents, real estate developers, other service providers as well as housing customers to our platform; and retain existing platform participants;

continue to implement and optimize our ACN rules;

continue to develop our technology and enhance our data insights;

maintain an extensive and authentic property listing database on our platform;

navigate an uncertain and evolving regulatory environment and adapt our operations to new policies, regulations and measures that may come into effect from time to time;

manage a large base of geographically dispersed employees, agents, housing customers and business partners;

deliver compelling value propositions to participants on our platform and ecosystem; and

expand service or product offerings and expand into new businesses.

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If the demand for completing housing transactions on an integrated offline and online platform does not develop as we expect, or if we fail to enhance efficiency and customer experience as we expect, our business and financial conditions may be materially and adversely affected.

Our business has been and may continue to be adversely affected by the outbreak of COVID-19.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has already adversely affected many aspects of our business. Many of the brokerage stores on our platform, as well as our transaction service centers, underwent temporary closure in early 2020 as part of China’s nationwide efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19. During that period, all agents were required to stay at home and were unable to serve our housing customers. Our operating efficiency and capacity were adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic mainly due to insufficient workforce as a result of temporary travel restrictions in China, a lack of willingness of housing customers to take home tours and inspections on site and purchase property and the necessity to comply with disease control protocols in our facilities. Due to concerns or fear of the spread of the disease, there had been noticeable reduction of in-person visits of housing customers to brokerage stores and properties in that period. We, the real estate agents on our platform, and our business partners might still be recovering from the general shutdown and delay in the commencement of operations in China. The global spread of COVID-19 pandemic in major countries of the world may also result in global economic distress, and the extent to which it may affect our results of operations will depend on future developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, which are highly uncertain and difficult to predict. Our results of operations for the first quarter of 2020 were adversely affected. Although our results of operations have substantially recovered in the last three quarters of 2020 and the impact of COVID-19 has been declining in China, there remains substantial uncertainty about the dynamic of the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have potential continuing impacts on subsequent periods if the global pandemic and the resulting disruption were to extend over a prolonged period or if a wide spread of COVID-19 happens again in China.

Starting from the fourth quarter of 2020 and extending to the first quarter of 2021, some instances of COVID-19 infections emerged in various regions of China, and varying levels of travel restrictions have been reinstated. If a second wave of COVID-19 in China takes place, or the global spread of COVID-19 and deterioration cannot be contained, risks set forth in this annual report may be exacerbated or accelerated at a heightened level.

We have incurred net losses in the past, and we may not be able to remain profitable or increase profitability in the future.

We incurred net losses of RMB428 million and RMB2,180 million in 2018 and 2019, respectively, and turned profit-making and recorded net income of RMB2,778 million (US$426 million) in 2020. We expect to continue to incur significant costs and expenses to further expand our business in the future, which could make it more difficult for us to retain or increase our profitability. Our costs have increased year-on-year in the past three years and we expect to continue to incur increasing costs to support our anticipated future growth. We also expect to continue to incur additional general and administrative expenses as a result of both our growth and the increased costs associated with being a public company. Our expenses may be greater than we anticipate, and our investments to make our business and our technical infrastructure more efficient may not be successful. As a result of the foregoing, we may not be able to remain profitable or increase our profitability in the future.

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Disruption or discontinuity in the features and functions of our infrastructure components, especially ACN, may materially and adversely affect our business.

We rely on the proper functioning of ACN and the modules of our infrastructure for the daily operations of our platform. Although we have implemented a comprehensive rules and protocols in ACN, we cannot assure you that all aspects of our ACN rules will be satisfactorily implemented in each housing transaction on our platform. With the increasing number of participating real estate brokerage brands and agents who were not previously familiar with ACN rules, it may be difficult for us to effectively monitor and control these brands and agents to ensure their business performance and conducts in accordance with ACN rules. If violations of ACN rules or other inappropriate actions occur, such as circumventing our platform to facilitate transactions that are required to be partitioned according to ACN rules, and if we fail to effectively prevent non-compliance or discipline the responsible brands or agents, the effectiveness of our ACN system may be diminished and other agents on our platform may be less willing to follow the rules, which could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations. Any material disruption or malfunction of other modules, such as our SaaS systems and customer front end, may also compromise the service quality of our service providers on the platform and affect our operations materially and adversely.

We cannot guarantee that our monetization strategies will be successfully implemented or generate sustainable revenues and profit.

Although we have a well-developed monetization model for our self-operated housing transaction services business through Lianjia, we are at the early stage of our platform business and our platform monetization model is evolving. Our Beike platform generates revenues from existing home transaction services by earning platform service fees from real estate brokerage firms on the platform as a percentage of the transaction commissions they earned on our platform, commissions from housing customers for transactions facilitated by our Lianjia brand or a split for commissions from other brokerage firms acting as principal agents in collaboration with our Lianjia agents to complete transactions, franchise fees from brokerage firms under our franchise brands such as Deyou, and service fees for other value-added services. We also generate revenues from new home transaction services by earning sales commissions from real estate developers for new home sales completed by us as well as other services such as financial services and home renovation services. We cannot assure you that we can successfully implement the existing business model to generate sustainable revenues, especially with respect to our attempts in broadening monetization with limited track records, or that we will be able to develop new monetization strategies to grow our revenues. If we fail to maintain the implementation of our existing business model or develop new monetization approaches, we may not be able to maintain or increase our revenues or effectively manage any associated costs. In addition, we may introduce new products and services for which we have little or no prior development or operating experience. If these new products or services fail to meet our expectations or are unable to attract or engage users, real estate agents, business partners or other platform participants, as the case may be, we may fail to diversify our revenue streams or generate sufficient revenues to justify our investments and costs, and our business and operating results may suffer as a result.

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We cooperate with various real estate brokerage brands, stores and agents on our platform. If we are not able to develop relationships with new real estate brokerage brands and agents or maintain our relationship with existing real estate brokerage brands and agents on our platform, our operations may be materially and adversely affected.

We believe the large and active network of real estate brokerage brands and their affiliated stores and agents contributes significantly to the success of our platform. As of December 31, 2020, there were over 493,000 real estate agents representing 279 brokerage brands on our platform. Aside from the Lianjia brand that we own and operate, other brokerage brands and the sales channels we specifically procured for new home transactions contributed over 58% of our GTV in 2020. We enter into business cooperation agreements with brokerage brands. Under these agreements, we offer the brokerage brands access to the infrastructure on our platform, such as ACN and the SaaS systems. The brokerage brands, in turn, would commit to following our ACN as well as other protocols on the platform and subscribe to an agreed-upon fee structure. It is uncertain, however, that we are able to develop relationships with new real estate brokerage brands, stores and agents in line with our plan to expand our platform business, or that we are able to maintain our relationship with existing brokerage brands, stores and agents on commercially acceptable terms, or at all, after the terms of the current cooperation agreements expire. In the event that we are not able to develop new relationships or maintain our existing relationship, our ability to serve a large number of customers nationwide with superior housing transaction services and to maintain and develop our extensive authentic property listing inventory may be restricted, which may in turn materially and adversely affect our platform operations.

If we fail to maintain our relationships with real estate developers or attract them to engage us, or otherwise fail to procure new real estate property listings at favorable terms, our business and growth prospects may suffer.

We cooperate with real estate developers for new property sales on our platform and established business relationships with major real estate developers in China. Maintaining strong relationships with real estate developers is critical to the results of operations and prospects on our new home sales business. We enter into strategic cooperation agreements with real estate developers, and these agreements typically do not restrict the real estate developers from cooperating with other real estate brokerage firms. We cannot assure you that the real estate developers we currently cooperate with will continue the cooperation on commercially acceptable terms, or at all, after the terms of the current agreements expire or after our cooperative arrangements end. Our ability to attract real estate developers to engage us in selling new homes will also affect the prospects of the new home sales business. If we cannot ensure that our channels sales excels their traditional way of sales, or, for example, the sales channels that do not utilize ACN are unable to meet real estate developers’ expectations or our VR initiatives are not effective in attracting housing customers, we might not be able to attract new real estate developers or even maintain our existing relationships. Even if we maintain strong relationships with the real estate developers or are able to attract them, their ability to provide adequate new property listings at competitive prices may be adversely affected by economic conditions, labor actions, regulatory or legal proceedings against them, natural disasters or other factors beyond our control. If we fail to attract new real estate developers to cooperate with us due to any reason, our business and growth prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

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If we fail to obtain or keep licenses, permits or approvals applicable to the various services provided by us, we may incur significant financial penalties and other government sanctions.

The real estate brokerage business in China is highly regulated by the PRC government. See also “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations on Real Estate Brokerage Business and Real Estate Agency Enterprises.” Pursuant to the Real Estate Brokerage Administrative Measures, to qualify as a real estate brokerage institution, an entity and its branches should have a sufficient number of qualified real estate brokers and file with relevant local real estate administrative authority within 30 days after obtaining its business license. The requirements of the local real estate administrative authorities for such filings may vary among cities and we cannot assure you that, to the extent that the filing is required by local authorities, we will be able to complete the filing in a timely manner, or at all. As of the date of this annual report, all of our subsidiaries and their branches operating real estate brokerage business have currently filed with the relevant authorities, except that a small subset of branches which are preparing for or in the process of completing such requirements. Thus far, the filing status of these branches has not caused any material adverse effect to our business operations. We cannot assure you that the outstanding filings and future filings will be completed in a timely manner, or at all. If not, we may be subject to penalties or other governmental sanctions for such failures.

In connection with the online operations of our platform, we are also required to obtain a value-added telecommunications service license in order to provide relevant value-added telecommunication services. We have obtained value-added telecommunications service licenses for the operations of relevant services. In addition, to enhance the experience of our housing customers, agents or other business partners on our platform, we offer various auxiliary functions and complementary services through our platform. Given the uncertainties of interpretation and implementation of relevant laws and regulations and the enforcement practice by relevant government authorities, we may be required to obtain additional licenses, permits, filings or approvals for these functions and services. For example, it remains uncertain whether the provision of real estate market news, industry research report, market trend analysis and similar informative contents on our platform shall be deemed as internet news information services or online publishing services. If formal and definite interpretation is issued by the relevant governmental authorities, we cannot assure you that an internet news information license or an online publishing business license will not be required for providing the services as described above. We cannot assure you that if we are required to obtain these additional licenses, permits or approvals, we will be able to do so in a timely manner, if at all, and any non-compliance may result in fines or other penalties being imposed to us.

Furthermore, if we enter into new service categories and businesses, or any of our current businesses or services are determined to be subject to new licensing requirements in the future, especially due to the evolving application or interpretation of relevant laws and regulations, we may be required to obtain licenses or permits that we do not currently have or to upgrade the licenses or permits we currently have. We will strive to obtain and upgrade the relevant licenses and permits, but we cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain or upgrade such licenses and permits in a timely manner, or at all.

Under applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations, the failure to obtain and/or maintain the licenses and permits required to conduct our business may subject us to various penalties, including confiscation of revenues, imposition of fines and/or restrictions on their business operations, or the discontinuation of their operations. Any such disruption in the business operations of our PRC subsidiaries or consolidated variable interest entities could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with the anti-monopoly and competition laws and regulations in the PRC may result in governmental investigations, enforcement actions, litigation or claims against us and could have an adverse effect on business, reputation, results of operations and financial condition.

The PRC anti-monopoly regulators have in recent years strengthened enforcement under the anti-monopoly and competition laws and regulations. In March 2018, the State Administration for Market Regulation, or the SAMR, was formed as a new governmental agency to take over, among other things, the anti-monopoly enforcement functions from the relevant departments under the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission, or the NDRC, and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (the predecessor of the SAMR), respectively. The SAMR stated that its tasks are to safeguard consumer interests, and to ensure quality and safety through enhanced market regulation. On December 28, 2018, the SAMR issued the Notice on Anti-monopoly Enforcement Authorization, which grants authorities to its province-level branches to conduct anti-monopoly enforcement within their respective jurisdictions. On September 11, 2020, the SAMR issued Anti-monopoly Compliance Guideline for Operators, which requires, under the PRC Anti-monopoly Law, operators to establish anti-monopoly compliance management systems to prevent anti-monopoly compliance risks.

The PRC anti-monopoly regulators may also issue implementation rules or guidelines from time to time to reinforce their regulation on certain industrial sectors. For instance, on February 7, 2021, the Anti-monopoly Committee of the State Council published the Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for the Platform Economy Sector, which became effective on the same date and is aimed at enhancing anti-monopoly administration on businesses that operate under the platform model and the overall platform economy. The Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for the Platform Economy Sector is consistent with the PRC Anti-Monopoly Law and prohibits monopolistic conduct such as entering into monopolistic agreements, abusing market dominance and concentration of undertakings that may have the effect to eliminate or restrict competition in the field of platform economy. More specifically, the Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for the Platform Economy Sector outlines certain practices that may, if without justifiable reasons, constitute abuse of market dominance, including without limitation, discriminating customers in terms of pricing and other transactional conditions using big data and analytics, coercing counterparties into exclusivity arrangements, using technology means to block competitors’ interface, favorable positioning in search results of goods displays, using bundled services to sell services or products, compulsory collection of unnecessary user data. In addition, the Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for the Platform Economy Sector also reinforces antitrust merger review for internet platform related transactions to safeguard market competition. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations on Anti-Monopoly.” As the Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for the Platform Economy Sector was newly promulgated, it is uncertain to estimate its specific impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. We cannot assure you that our business operations comply with such regulations and authorities’ requirements in all respects. If any non-compliance is raised by relevant authorities and determined against us, we may be subject to fines and other penalties.

We may be involved in investigations, claims and complaints in relation to anti-monopoly and competition laws and regulations in the PRC from time to time, which regulate various potential monopolistic actions or arrangements, such as monopoly agreements, bundling or tie-in sales, unfair pricing practices, imposing unreasonable terms on the counterparties, requiring the operators on the platform to choose “one out of two” competitive platforms, charging additional and unreasonable fees, refusing to transact with certain counterparties without any reasonable ground, as well as concentrations of undertaking, and these investigations, claims and complaints are subject to the uncertainties associated with the evolving legislative activities and varied local enforcement practices. In the case of our failure or perceived failure to comply with these laws and regulations and new legislations or guidelines to be promulgated from time to time, governmental agencies and regulators may, among other things, prohibit or rescind our acquisitions, divestitures, or combinations, impose significant fines or penalties, require divestiture of certain of our assets, or impose other restrictions that limit or require us to modify our operations. It may be costly to adjust some of our business practice in order to comply with these laws, regulations, rules, guidelines and implementations, and any incompliance or associated inquiries, investigations and other governmental actions may divert significant management time and attention and our financial resources, bring negative publicity, subject us to liabilities or administrative penalties, and materially and adversely affect our financial conditions, results of operations, and business prospects.

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The proper functioning of technologies deployed by our platform is essential to our business. Any failure to maintain the satisfactory performance of our websites, mobile apps and systems could materially and adversely affect our business and reputation.

The satisfactory performance, reliability and availability of our platform, both online and offline, are critical to our success and our ability to attract and retain housing customers and real estate agents. Any system interruptions caused by telecommunications failures, computer viruses, hacking or other attempts to harm our systems that result in the unavailability or slowdown of our online operations could reduce the transaction volumes and hamper transaction efficiency, and our platform as a whole will suffer. Our servers may also be vulnerable to computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins and similar disruptions, which could lead to system interruptions, website and mobile app slowdown or unavailability, delays or errors in transaction processing, loss of data or the inability to accept and fulfill customer requests. Security breaches, computer viruses and hacking attacks have become more prevalent in our industry. Because of our brand recognition in the housing transactions and services industry in China, we believe we are a relatively attractive target for such attacks. We have experienced in the past such unexpected interruptions, and we have taken protective measures to enhance the security of our platform. We can provide no assurance that our current security mechanisms will be sufficient to protect our IT systems from any external intrusions, viruses or hacker attacks, information or data theft or other similar activities. Any such future occurrences could reduce customer satisfaction, damage our reputation and result in a material decrease in our revenues. If hostile hacking attacks result in revelation of personal data we are obligated to protect, we may be subject to administrative penalties or legal proceedings against us. If such attacks lead to leaked trade secrets, including our property listings, our business and results of operations may be adversely and materially affected.

If we are unable to recruit, train and retain competent real estate personnel or sufficient workforce while controlling our labor costs, our business may be materially and adversely affected.

We will continue to recruit real estate personnel to support business operations and planned business growth. Our future success depends, to a significant extent, on our ability to recruit, train and retain competent personnel, particularly technical, marketing and other operational personnel with experience in the housing transactions and services industry as well as service providers for various value-added services on our platform. For Lianjia brand we own and operate, we also strive to recruit, train and retain real estate agents. The effective operation of our managerial and operating systems also depends on the quality performance and diligence of our management and employees. Since our industry is characterized by high demand and intense competition for talent and labor as well as high turn-over rate, we can provide no assurance that we will be able to attract or retain staff, agents and managerial talents or other highly skilled employees that we will need to achieve our strategic objectives. Labor costs in mainland China and elsewhere have increased with the global economic development. In addition, our ability to train and integrate new employees into our operations may also be limited and may not meet the demand for our business growth in a timely fashion, or at all, and rapid expansion may impair our ability to maintain our corporate culture. If we are unable to meet our demand for workforce, our business may be materially and adversely affected.

We rely on our employees, real estate brokerage brands and their affiliated agents, real estate developers, financial institutions, and other business partners on our platform to provide quality services to customers. Their illegal actions or misconduct, or any failure by them to provide satisfactory services or maintain their service levels, could materially and adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations.

Real estate agents and certain personnel on our platform are the ultimate providers of the services offered on our platform, and our brands and reputation may be harmed by their actions that are outside our control. We rely on our employees, including Lianjia agents, supporting staff and platform operation staff to provide housing transaction services and various other services. Notwithstanding the strictly enforced service protocols, our employees, especially our agents, may not fully comply with our protocols and relevant laws or regulations, and may engage in misconduct or illegal actions, which may result in negative publicity and adversely impact our reputation and brand image.

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We rely upon connected agents to serve some of our housing customers. Although we have established comprehensive service protocols for agents on our platform and maintain rigorous governance mechanisms, we may not be able to exercise the same level of control over the conduct of connected brokerage brands and their agents as we would as if we owned them or they were our employees. In the event of any unsatisfactory performance, lack of certain qualifications or licenses, misconduct, or illegal actions, such as dishonesty, personal torts or extortion, by connected real estate brokerage brands and their agents, the disputes resulted from such actions may involve us and we may suffer reputational and financial damage and incur liabilities. For example, if connected agents provide inaccurate information to housing customers on our platform, who submit complaints to regulatory agencies, we may be involved as a related party in such disputes. Such misconduct by real estate agents is subject to an increasing level of scrutiny by the regulatory authorities who would publicize such misconduct, which could damage our overall reputation, disrupt our ability to attract new customers or retain our current customers and diminish the value of our brand. Although we hold a deposit from each real estate brokerage store on our platform to cover potential financial damage, to the extent that the amount of financial damage incurred in such disputes exceeds the amount of deposit, our financial condition may be adversely and materially affected.

In addition to the services provided by real estate agents on our platform, we also rely on a large number of business partners on our platform and ecosystem, such as real estate developers to provide quality services related to new home transactions, financial institutions to provide effective and affordable financial solutions to housing customers, and home renovation companies to perform satisfactory work. To the extent they are unable to provide satisfactory services to housing customers and real estate agents, or they engage in any inappropriate or illegal actions, which may be due to factors that are beyond our control, we may suffer actual or reputational damage as a result. In particular, the real estate developers we cooperate with may breach the contracts with housing customers or violate laws and regulations, which may expose us to potential legal liabilities and subject us to housing customers’ claims for indemnifications and other remedies. Any of the failure to provide satisfactory services, potential misconduct or illegal actions discussed above could materially and adversely impact our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations.

We face risk in collecting our accounts receivable and deposits from real estate developers.

In line with the industry practice in China, we pay earnest deposits to real estate developers when we are engaged to sell new home projects and we grant them credit terms for our sales commissions. As of December 31, 2020, the balance of deposits paid to real estate developers was RMB2.1 billion (US$0.3 billion) and the accounts receivable due from them was RMB13.5 billion (US$2.1 billion). We may face risk collecting these amounts if the operation and liquidity condition of real estate developers deteriorate. Meanwhile, any policy change aiming at tightening regulations of real estate developers may limit their access to financing channels and may cause adverse impact on the collectability of our accounts receivable. For instance, since the end of 2020, the regulators have tightened the financial requirements for real estate developers to seek new debt financings, with the aim of curing the rapid growth of debts of real estate developers. Under the rules, the growth rate of debt financing allowed for a real estate developer is contingent on its satisfaction of three debt-related financial metrics, and if it fails to meet all three metrics, it will be restricted from obtaining any new interest-bearing debt financing. If any of the real estate developers with significant outstanding accounts receivable and deposits were to become insolvent or otherwise become unable or refuse, to make payments in a timely manner, or at all, we would have to make additional provisions against such accounts receivables and deposits, or write off the relevant amounts, either of which could adversely affect our financial conditions and profitability.

Our failure to protect our intellectual property rights may undermine our competitive position, and external infringements of our intellectual property rights may adversely affect our business.

Our success and ability to compete depends in part on our intellectual property. We primarily rely on a combination of patent, trademark, trade secret, and copyright laws, as well as confidentiality procedures and contractual restrictions with our employees, contractors and others to establish and protect our intellectual property rights. However, confidentiality and license arrangements may be breached by counterparties, and there may not be adequate remedies available to us for any such breach. Accordingly, we may not be able to effectively protect our intellectual property rights or to enforce our contractual rights. In addition, our trade secrets may be leaked or otherwise become available to, or be independently discovered by, our competitors. The steps we take to protect our intellectual property rights may be inadequate or we may be unable to secure intellectual property protection for some of our properties. Infringement of intellectual property rights continues to pose a serious risk of doing business.

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We have filed, and may in the future file, patent applications on certain of our innovations. It is possible, however, that these innovations may not be patentable. In addition, given the cost, effort and risks associated with patent application, we may choose not to seek patent protection for some innovations. Furthermore, our patent applications may not lead to granted patents, the scope of the protection gained may be insufficient or an issued patent may be deemed invalid or unenforceable. In addition, we have filed, and may continue to file, applications on certain of our trademarks, which may not always be approved on a timely basis, or at all. We also cannot guarantee that any of our present or future patents, trademarks or other intellectual property rights will not lapse or be invalidated, circumvented, challenged, or abandoned.

If we are unable to protect our intellectual property, our competitors could use our intellectual property to market offerings similar to ours and our ability to compete effectively would be impaired. Moreover, others may independently develop technologies that are competitive to ours or infringe on our intellectual property. The enforcement of our intellectual property rights depends on our legal actions against these infringers being successful, but we cannot be sure these actions will be successful, even when our rights have been infringed. In addition, defending our intellectual property rights might entail significant expense and diversion of management resources. Any of our intellectual property rights may be challenged by others or invalidated through administrative processes or litigations. We can provide no assurance that we will prevail in such litigations, and, even if we do prevail, we may not obtain a meaningful relief. Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may be unable to prevent external parties from infringing or misappropriating our intellectual property. Any intellectual property that we own may not provide us with competitive advantages or may be successfully challenged by external parties.

We have been and may be subject to intellectual property infringement claims or other allegations, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and prospects.

We cannot be certain that our services and information provided on our website, operating and technology systems, Weixin mini programs and public accounts and mobile apps do not or will not infringe patents, copyrights, trademarks or other intellectual property rights held by external parties. From time to time, we may be subject to legal proceedings and claims alleging infringement of patents, trademarks, copyrights or other intellectual property rights, or misappropriation of creative ideas or formats, or other infringement of proprietary intellectual property rights.

In addition, we allow our agents on the platform to upload listings to our mobile apps and websites, which may include images or other detailed information of houses. However, a small portion of such content posted on our mobile apps and websites may expose us to allegations by third parties regarding, among other things, infringement of intellectual property rights, unfair competition, invasion of privacy, defamation and other violations of third-party rights. Our failure to identify unauthorized content posted on our mobile apps and websites may subject us to claims of infringement of third-party intellectual property rights or other rights, defending of which may impose a significant burden on our management and employees, and there can be no assurance that we will obtain final outcomes that are favorable to us.

The validity, enforceability and scope of intellectual property rights protection in internet-related industries, particularly in China, are uncertain and still evolving. For example, as we face increasing competition and as litigation is more frequently used to resolve disputes in China, we face a higher risk of being the subject of intellectual property infringement claims. Pursuant to relevant laws and regulations, internet service providers may be held liable for damages if such providers have reason to know that content infringes the copyrights of others. In cases involving the unauthorized posting of copyrighted content by users on websites in China, there have been court proceedings but no settled court practice as to when and how hosting providers and administrators of a website can be held liable for the unauthorized posting by external parties of copyrighted material. Any such proceeding could result in significant costs to us and divert our management’s time and attention from the operation of our business, as well as potentially adversely impact our reputation, even if we are ultimately absolved of all liability.

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We face competition from other industry players. We may lose market share and customers if we fail to compete effectively.

The housing transactions and services industry in China is rapidly evolving and increasingly competitive. Although we believe no other industry player in China operates under the integrated platform business model similar to ours, we face competition from players in different segments of the housing transactions and services industry. We face competition with other online platform for housing transactions, property listings or traffic. As PRC authorities have proposed and led an initiative of developing a comprehensive nation-wide property database, our housing database might be exposed to fierce competition. We may also face intense competition from other housing transaction companies for their agent networks. For our new home sales business, we also compete with other new home sales channels. In addition to these platforms and companies at the national level, we compete with traditional real estate brokerage stores and brands for real estate agents and housing customers locally. We also compete with other companies for value-added services related to housing transactions.

Increasing competition in the housing transactions and services industry would lead to declining market share and commission rate, make it more difficult for us to retain and attract real estate brokerage brands and agents, business partners and housing customers, or force us to increase irrational sales and marketing expenses, any of which could harm our financial condition and results of operations. We cannot assure you that we will be able to compete successfully against current or future competitors, and competitive pressures may have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Tencent provides services to us in connection with various aspects of our operations. If such services become limited, restricted, curtailed, less effective or more expensive or become unavailable to us for any reason, our business may be materially and adversely affected.

We collaborate with Tencent, one of our principal shareholders and owner of Weixin and QQ, with respect to various aspects of our business. We have entered into a business cooperation agreement with Tencent, pursuant to which we and Tencent have agreed to cooperate in a number of areas including customer access to our platform via Tencent networks, advertising and cloud technology. If services provided by Tencent to us become limited, compromised, restricted, curtailed, less effective or more expensive become unavailable to us for any reason, including the availability of our Weixin mini-program and customer access to our platform via Weixin, our business may be materially and adversely affected.

We derive a substantial portion of our revenues from China’s major cities, in particular, Beijing and Shanghai, and we face market risk due to our concentration in these major urban areas.

Beijing and Shanghai are the two largest residential real estate markets in China. In 2018, 2019 and 2020, 47.4%, 35.1% and 32.0%, respectively, of our revenues were generated from these two markets on a combined basis. We expect these two urban centers to continue to be the important sources of revenues in all of our revenue categories. If we fail to maintain our competitive positions in either of the two major urban areas, or if either of them encounters events which negatively impact the residential real estate industry or online platform business, such as a serious economic downturn or contraction, a natural disaster, or a decline in housing price or price control due to governmental policies or otherwise, demand for our products and services could significantly decline and our revenues and profitability could be adversely and materially impacted.

Any unexpected material deterioration in the business and financial results of Lianjia may materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Being the brand that we own and operate directly, Lianjia is also the leading real estate brokerage brand on our platform in terms of revenue. Thus far, Lianjia has accounted for a significant portion of our revenue. Accordingly, our revenues, financial condition or results of operations may be materially affected by fluctuations in the business of Lianjia. If Lianjia fails to continue to efficiently serve the needs of our housing customers and if other brands on our platform are unable to compensate the gap, or if any unexpected deterioration of the business and financial results of Lianjia occurs, our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects will be adversely and materially affected.

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We have granted and expect to continue to grant share-based awards in the future under our share incentive plan, which may result in increased share-based compensation expenses.

We adopted a Pre-IPO Share Option Scheme in 2018, or the 2018 Share Option Plan, to provide additional incentives to employees, directors and consultants. In July 2020, we have adopted a 2020 Global Share Incentive Plan, or the 2020 Share Incentive Plan, for the same purpose. The maximum aggregate number of ordinary shares which may be issued under the 2018 Share Option Plan is 350,225,435. The maximum aggregate number of ordinary shares which may be issued under the 2020 Share Incentive Plan is initially 80,000,000, subject to annual increase. See “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees—B. Compensation—Share Incentive Plans.” We have granted options and recorded RMB345 million, RMB2,523 million and RMB2,253 million (US$345 million) in 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively, in share-based compensation expenses in relation to such share-based award grants. We also expect to continue to grant awards under our share incentive plan, which we believe is of significant importance to our ability to attract and retain key personnel and employees. As a result, our expenses associated with share-based compensation may increase, which may have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Our business is sensitive to economic conditions. A severe or prolonged downturn in the global or Chinese economy could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

COVID-19 had a severe and negative impact on the Chinese and the global economy in 2020. Starting from the fourth quarter of 2020 and extending to the first quarter of 2021, a few waves of COVID-19 infections emerged in various regions of China, and varying levels of travel restrictions were reinstated. Whether this will lead to a prolonged downturn in the economy is still unknown. Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, the global macroeconomic environment was facing challenges, including the end of quantitative easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the economic slowdown in the Eurozone since 2014, uncertainties over the impact of Brexit and the ongoing global trade disputes and tariffs. The growth of the Chinese economy has slowed down since 2012 compared to the previous decade and the trend may continue. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, China’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth was 6.6% in 2018, 6.1% in 2019 and 2.3% in 2020. There is considerable uncertainty over the long-term effects of the monetary and fiscal policies adopted by the central banks and financial authorities of some of the world’s leading economies, including the United States and China. In addition, there have also been concerns about the relationship between China and the United States. resulted from the current trade tension between the two countries. It is unclear whether these challenges and uncertainties will be contained or resolved and what effects they may have on the global political and economic conditions in the long term. Economic conditions in China are sensitive to global economic conditions, as well as changes in domestic economic and political policies and the expected or perceived overall economic growth rate in China. Any prolonged slowdown in the global or Chinese economy may have a negative impact on our business, results of operations and financial condition, and continued turbulence in the international markets may adversely affect our ability to access the capital markets to meet liquidity needs. Our customers and business partners may reduce or delay spending with us, while we may have difficulty expanding our customer base and cooperative network fast enough, or at all, or to offset the impact of decreased spending by our existing customers and business partners.

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If other companies copy property listings from our mobile apps and websites and publish or aggregate them for their own benefit, attractiveness of our platform may decline.

There is no assurance that other companies would not copy property listings or other information from our mobile apps, websites and Weixin mini program, through website scraping, robots or other means, and publish or aggregate it with other information for their own benefit. When external parties engage in such conducts, housing customers may be misguided and driven away from our platform and complete their transactions somewhere else, which could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations. We may fail to detect such anti-competitive conduct in a timely manner and, even if we could, we may find it costly to be fixed or not be able to prohibit it.

Strategic alliances, investments or acquisitions may have a material and adverse effect on our business, reputation, results of operations and financial condition.

We have in the past and may continue to invest in or acquire assets, technologies and businesses that are complementary to our existing business, such as our investments in other national real estate brokerage companies and strategic acquisitions of real estate brokerage brands in the past. Our investments or acquisitions may involve significant risks and may not yield the results we expect. Challenges and risks associated with strategic alliances, investments or acquisitions include:

Investments and acquisitions could result in the use of substantial amounts of cash, potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, significant amortization expenses related to goodwill or intangible assets and exposure to potential unknown liabilities of the acquired business. If such goodwill or intangible assets become impaired, we may be required to record a significant decrease to our results of operations;

Investments and acquisitions may require our management team to devote a significant amount of attention in implementation or remediation of controls, procedures and policies at the invested or acquired companies;

The cost of identifying and consummating investments and acquisitions and integrating the acquired businesses into ours may be significant, and the integration of acquired businesses may be difficult or become disruptive to our existing business operations;

We may also have to obtain approval from the relevant PRC governmental authorities or complete certain administrative procedures for the investments and acquisitions and comply with any applicable PRC rules and regulations, which may be costly;

Actual or alleged misconduct or non-compliance by any company we acquire or invest in (or by its affiliates) that occurred may lead to negative publicity, government inquiry or investigations against such company or against us;

Investments and acquisitions may raise regulatory concerns in relation to the anti-monopoly and competition laws, rules and regulations of China;

Unexpected situations in the area where we conduct investments or acquisitions, such as local protectionism, may impede the closing of our investments or acquisitions and the proper functioning of the invested business;

Our financial conditions and results of operations may be adversely affected as we provide loans to some of the companies we invest in;

In the case of foreign acquisitions, we face difficulties and risks in addressing the need to integrate operations across different cultures and languages and to deal with the particular economic, currency, political and regulatory risks associated with specific countries; and

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We may fail to retain and integrate qualified employees of the invested or acquired companies.

In the event that our investments and acquisitions are not successful, our results of operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

We have in the past been subject to legal and regulatory proceedings and administrative investigations and may continue to be subject to these proceedings and investigations from time to time. If the outcome of these proceedings or investigations is adverse to us, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, results of operations and financial condition.

We have been, and may from time to time in the future be, subject to various legal and regulatory proceedings arising in the ordinary course of our business. Claims and complaints arising out of actual or alleged violations of laws and regulations could be asserted against us by real estate developers, agents, housing customers, our competitors, or governmental entities in administrative, civil or criminal investigations and proceedings or by other entities.

As we entered into contractual relationship with various real estate developers, brokerage brands and stores and housing customers, we have been involved in legal proceedings arising from contract disputes. In October 2018, we were named as a defendant in a civil lawsuit involving contract disputes filed in Sichuan by a local real estate developer (the “Plaintiff”) claiming refunds and damages of approximately RMB150 million. We believe that the claims made by the Plaintiff were without merit and the damages sought were groundless, and we have asserted counterclaims against the Plaintiff. In December 2020, the court of first instance ruled that we should pay a total damage of approximately RMB12.7 million to the Plaintiff, who was ruled to pay us service fees of approximately RMB12.9 million. We have subsequently submitted an appeal petition requesting for additional damages and other outstanding fees and a reduction of the damages payable by us. As of the date of this annual report, the legal proceeding of the second trial is still pending. See “Item 8. Financial Information—A. Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information—Legal Proceedings.” We may also be involved and assume joint liability when we provide services to business partners on our platform who are named as defendants by housing customers due to various reasons including contract violations, lack of licenses or qualifications, lack of cash liquidity and bankruptcy of such business partners.

We have been and may continue to be subject to formal and informal inquiries, investigations and inspections from government authorities and regulators regarding our compliance with laws and regulations, many of which are evolving and subject to interpretation, which may vary in different regions in China. Most of these administrative actions may be routine in nature and carried out as part of the market monitoring and supervision functions of the regulatory authorities, but some of them may be triggered by our industry position in housing transactions and services market or by complaints from third parties or customers. Especially, our industry position in housing transactions and services market and our approach to expand our businesses through an online platform may draw heightened scrutiny from the regulatory authorities or cause to be paid close attention to our business operation.

These investigations, claims and complaints could be initiated or asserted under or on the basis of a variety of laws in different jurisdictions, including real estate laws, advertising laws, value-added telecommunication services laws, intellectual property laws, unfair competition laws, anti-monopoly laws, data protection and privacy laws, labor and employment laws, securities laws, finance services laws, tort laws, contract laws and property laws. There is no guarantee that we will be successful in defending ourselves in legal and administrative actions or in asserting our rights under various laws. If we fail to defend ourselves in these actions, we may be subject to restrictions, fines or penalties that will materially and adversely affect our operations. Even if we are successful in our attempt to defend ourselves in legal and regulatory actions or to assert our rights under various laws and regulations, the process of communicating with relevant regulators, defending ourselves and enforcing our rights against the various parties involved may be expensive, time-consuming and ultimately futile. These actions could expose us to negative publicity, substantial monetary damages and legal defense costs, injunctive relief and criminal and civil fines and penalties, including but not limited to suspension or revocation of licenses to conduct business.

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We are subject to FCPA and other anti-corruption laws, trade sanction laws and export control laws, violation of which could adversely affect our reputation, business, prospects, operating results and financial condition.

We are subject to risks associated with doing business outside of the United States, including exposure to complex foreign and U.S. regulations such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or the FCPA, and other anti-corruption laws which generally prohibit companies listed in the U.S., their employees, and their intermediaries from making improper payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business and which generally require companies to keep accurate books and records in reasonable detail. Violations of the FCPA and other anti-corruption laws may result in severe criminal and civil sanctions and other penalties. It may be difficult to fully control and oversee the conduct of contractors, business partners, representatives, third-party agents or our employees, including real estate agents on our platform, potentially exposing us to greater risk from their actions. If the aforesaid individuals or entities fail to comply with applicable laws or company policies governing our operations, we or our employees may face legal proceedings and actions which could result in civil penalties, administration actions and criminal sanctions. Any determination or publication that we or our employees have violated any anti-corruption laws or that our books and records are not sufficiently detailed or accurate could harm our reputation and have an adverse impact on our business and financial condition.

In addition, any changes in trade sanctions laws or export control laws may also restrict our business practices. Violations of these laws and regulations could result in significant fines, civil, criminal or administrative sanctions against us, our directors and officers or our employees, requirements to obtain export licenses, disgorgement of profits, prohibitions on the conduct of our business and our inability to market our services. Any changes to or violations of such laws could materially damage our reputation, brand, expansion efforts, ability to attract and retain housing customers and agents as well as our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition.

We may not be able to maintain our culture, which has been a key to our success.

Our culture, implicated in our grand vision and mission, is important to us, and we believe it has been critical to our success. We may have difficulties maintaining our culture or adapting it sufficiently to meet the needs of our future and evolving operations as we continue to grow, in particular as we have become a public company with the attendant changes in policies, practices, corporate governance and management requirements. Failure to maintain our culture could have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

Our expansion into new service and product categories and businesses may expose us to new challenges and more risks.

Although we have been successful in expanding into new service and product categories and businesses, such as establishing our platform business and financial services, we cannot assure you that we will be able to continue our success in our expansion into new service and product categories and businesses in the future. For example, we are cooperating with more real estate developers for new home sales on our platform and we are rolling out our pilot programs to test our home renovation, community care and property management services. Meanwhile, we are leveraging our technological capabilities to offer service models such as VR property showing. Our lack of experience with these new service and product categories may adversely affect our prospects and our ability to compete with the existing market players in any of these service and product categories. Moreover, the expansion into new businesses may disrupt our ongoing business, distract our management and employees and increase our expenses to cover unforeseen or hidden liabilities or costs. We may also face challenges in achieving the expected benefits of synergies and growth opportunities in connection with these new service categories and businesses. Besides, we may be subject to additional compliance requirements for these new service and product categories and businesses. Failure to expand successfully may also diminish investor confidence in our decision-making and execution capabilities, which could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

KE Holdings Inc. [BEKE] Filings
20-F	[2021-04-06]
F-1	[2020-11-16]
F-1	[2020-07-24]